What comes to your mind when you think of perseverance or persistence? Maybe that time you really wanted that cute dress or that new book, so you begged and pleaded with your parents. Perhaps the times you’ve tried out for the sports team until you finally made the team. You could even be remembering the moment when you were stuck on that level of a game, so you kept playing that one level over and over to get to the next. How about when you beat your time in running? You could be thinking anything about your personnel experiences when it comes to perseverance and persistence.
Getting that dress or book could have taken a large amount of time of persuading your parents. Ovid once said, “Dripping water hollows out stone, not through force but through persistence.” You didn’t have to be forceful and aggressive, but the power was in not relenting to the answer “No.” Did you just give up after they said no, or did you continue to ask and wear your parents down?
Making the sports team probably took a lot of hard work and practicing. “If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.” The one to say these words was Michael Jordan. Did the coaches say you weren’t cut out for it the year before, or did you have to postpone other activities to try out for the team or to make time to practice? Michael Jordan could have had the same problems but he pushed through them all and now he is a professional basketball player. Being stuck on a level of a game can be frustrating, but are you going to stop playing the game because you are having trouble with one level? “Never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat”, this quote by F. Scott Fitzgerald, can be useful in many situations you may in counter. One game